"The State of Israel ... will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights of all its inhabitants irrespective of religion ... it will guarantee freedom
of religion and conscience." - May 1948)

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The Haredi Establishment Versus Ruth the Moabite

If Ruth the Moabite were alive today, no court in Israel would be able to let her convert, and King David would never have been born. The haredi establishment constitutes an almost impenetrable barrier on the road to Judaism, and its hand is very light on the trigger when it comes to overturning conversions. The time has come to dismantle the haredi monopoly.

What are the chances that a haredi court of today would allow the mother of King David's grandfather to convert? And if a court lenient enough to convert her could be found, what are the chances that the the haredi zealots would not overturn the conversion?

The answers are clear. Ruth would have a slight chance of getting through the agonizing road to conversion. Even if she had succeeded in converting, if for any reason, such as divorce, she were to come before a haredi rabbinical court, it is likely they would overturn the conversion. What look for the Jewish people that Ruth lived before the haredim took over the conversion process. Today, thousands of women follow her path, asking to join the Jewish people, and are forced to marry in Cyprus or Prague and deal with the question marks raised concerning their Jewishness and that of their children.

For the last twenty years the state has been making a great effort to integrate into the Jewish people the more than 300 thousand immigrants considered to be without a religion. Those whom the haredi parties in the coalition and the haredi rabbis who control the Chief Rabbinate do their best to sabotage in this endeavor. As a result, in recent years only about two thousand immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been converted every year, a figure which signifies complete failure. Among these converts, 800 convert in the IDF framework, which is now under severe attack. Even after their conversion, the converts encounter difficulties registering their Jewishness and getting married.

This failure is particularly blatant in light of the fact that every year several thousand children are born to these immigrants who are not Jewish according to halacha. This means not only that the state is not succeeding in integrating the immigrants designated as "without a religion" into the Jewish people, but also that the number continues to grow.

At the same time for the past twenty years the struggle of diaspora Jews to have conversions of all streams of Judaism recognized. This means recognition by the state of Israel of conversions done by the large majority of the Jewish people in the diaspora. Even after the Supreme Court instructed the state to recognize Reform and Conservative conversions for the purposes of the Law of Return, the state of Israel still does not allow these immigrants to marry here.

This policy is

for the past twenty years the struggle of diaspora Jews to have conversions of all streams of Judaism recognized

completely opposed to the will of the majority of the public. A survey by the Smith Institute for the Hiddush website reveals that 75% of the Jewish public in Israel, including 60% of the religious public, are opposed to overturning conversions, or making them conditional on keep the sabbath or kashrut. 84% of the public are Israel is convinced that the Chief Rabbinate and the rabbinical conversion courts have either not succeed or have failed in meeting the national challenge of converting immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The Survey of Religion and State which the Smith Institute compiled last summer for Hiddush reveals that 61% of the Jewish public in Israel is in favor of breaking the Orthodox monopoly on conversion and recognizing all types of conversion.

The problem is clear: the haredi establishment constitutes an almost impenetrable barrier on the road to Judaism, and its hand is very light on the trigger when it comes to overturning conversions. Therefore the solution must also be clear: we must take control of the entry gates to the Jewish people out of the hands of the Rabbinate and the rabbinical courts, which are controlled by the haredim. Instead of the tyranny of a monopoly controlled by the haredim, we should recognize conversions from all streams of Judaism. Only this way can we assure that our brothers, the immigrants from the former Soviet Union, will be received willingly into Judaism and not throw up their hands even before the process begins because of the agonizing road of humiliations and pretense which the Rabbinate demands from them. This step is not only vital and essential for Israel and the converts themselves, but will also strengthen the status of Judaism and the bond between diaspora Jews and those in Israel.

For this reason the Hiddush -- Freedom of Religion for Israel organization, which I head, has begun an internet campaign during Shavuot with the slogan "Who overturned Ruth's conversion?". In the framework of this campaign, the organization encourages web-surfers to send e-mails to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu calling on him to put an end to the lack of a national conversion program, to recognize the conversions of all streams of Judaism and to halt the overturning of conversions. The holiday of Shavuot is the time to remind ourselves, and particularly the Prime Minister, of the commandment: "and you shall love the convert".